


Recruitment

by sophisticus



Series: Pink Lightning [4]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-18 01:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14842686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophisticus/pseuds/sophisticus
Summary: Kitty has left Fire-Fist Ace's crew, but it's not long after that she runs into the Straw Hat pirates. She sarcastically asks them to help her gain some freedom from the mafia boss after her blood, not expecting them to agree. Even less expected is the offer that Straw Hat Luffy makes her.





	1. Back Home

**Author's Note:**

> Still not really sure I like the title, but until/unless I think of a better one, this one will stay.

Kitty paused in her labors to wipe sweat from her brow. Building a house from near-scratch was hard as hell, especially without any real carpentry experience, and with various smashed thumbs, splinters, and cuts, she was about ready to call it a day. Especially after the first couple of weeks were spent measuring the half-burned remains of her childhood home, drawing up plans for a new one, and then clearing away the ruined beams and cracked stone. God, this was some back breaking work.

She set aside the hammer and stood, stretching out her stiff muscles. Her sunburn ached quietly along her shoulders, and she peeled away her crop top from where her sweat made it cling to her skin. In the woods behind the farmhouse, cicadas screamed in the trees, and the golds and reds of the sunset made her squint her eyes as she glanced out over the mountainside leading down to the sea. Down near the bay, she could see the buildings of the village, and the smoke from chimneys rising into the sky. It had been so long since she’d been back here on her home island, but aside from her ruined childhood home being mostly reclaimed by nature, not much had actually changed.

Lost in thought as she was, it took Kitty several seconds to realize that the ship heading towards the docks wasn’t one of the regular ships that came here. She squinted against the sunlight, and was faintly able to make out a pirate jolly roger.

Dread filled her stomach like a heavy rock. “Oh shit,” she whispered.

\---

“Alright, time to go!” Luffy shouted. He didn’t even wait for the anchor to drop before he launched himself onto the docks.

“Hey you idiot, don’t just go running off on your own,” Sanji scolded. “You’ll get lost, you’re almost as bad as the marimo.”

Zoro scowled. “Oh shut the hell up,” he growled.

“Come on, we gotta go catch him now,” Nami sighed. “Remember, we’ve still got one more island to stop at before we actually enter the Grand Line, so it’s not absolutely vital to get everything we need at this stop, but we still need to try and get all the supplies we can before we go on.”

“This looks like a peaceful enough island,” Usopp mentioned as they all disembarked. “It doesn’t look like we’ll run into any issues here, right?”

“Who knows?” Zoro said.

He’d barely finished speaking before an echoing gunshot caught their attention. They hurried into the town, arriving in the town square in time to find Luffy staring down a man with a shotgun. Both of them looked equally confused.

“What’d you shoot me for?” Luffy demanded, sounding exasperated. “I didn’t even do anything!”

“How the hell didn’t that hurt you?  What are you!?” the man yelled, pointing an accusing finger at him. “Like I said, you all need to just leave! Haven’t you pirates caused enough trouble here?”

“I feel like I should point out we haven’t actually ever been here before,” Sanji said casually. “So if pirates caused trouble here, it wasn’t us.”

“Luffy, if they don’t want us here, maybe we should leave,” Usopp said nervously. “The rest of us aren’t like you. If they decide to shoot  _ us _ , then we’ll actually get hurt.”

“Let’s all calm down,” Nami said smoothly. She stepped forward and gently turned the shotgun down safely towards the ground. “I don’t know what stupid stuff our captain here has said or done, but we’re not here to attack or steal anything, we promise. We just want to buy some supplies if that’s okay with you all.”

“The last pirates to come here who said that lied and wreaked havoc,” another of the villagers said harshly. “They burned down one of our farms and kidnapped two of our people. Not to mention they stole money and supplies from us all.”

“We don’t have any interest in stealing or burning,” Zoro replied in a bored tone. “Just let us buy some shit and we’ll get out of your hair.”

“And what if you’re lying?” the man with the shotgun demanded.

Zoro jerked his thumb back towards Usopp, who stood behind him. “You can keep him as a hostage and shoot him if something goes to hell.” Usopp squawked indignantly at the suggestion.

“We’re not going to do that,” Nami snapped.

“Aw come on, I don’t want to steal from you guys,” Luffy exclaimed. “I just wanna explore while we’re here.”

“I swear we’re not going to cause any trouble,” Sanji said. “If it makes you feel better, we’ll just have one of us do the shopping we need, and the rest of us will stay on the ship. Will that be acceptable?”

“Nonsense.” A new voice interrupted them, and everyone turned to see an elderly man stepping forward. “It’s clear you five aren’t bad people. You’ll be allowed to shop here as you need.”

“Alright! Thanks, old man!” Luffy said cheerfully.

“Hey! You be more respectful of our mayor!” the guy with the shotgun protested.

“What? Why should I?”

“Excuse me,” Usopp said, approaching the mayor. “That guy over there said some of your people had been kidnapped?”

The man sighed heavily. “Yes. It was a couple who lived up the mountain a ways. Their pomegranate farm fell on some hard financial times, and tried to sell off a fake Devil Fruit. It came back to bite them in the behind when the mafia guy who bought it, hired some pirates to shake up our town, burn down their farm, and bring them back to their base for punishment. Their poor little girl got roped into it too – only nine years old, and she tried to stop it from happening and got conscripted onto that pirate crew.”

“That’s awful,” Nami said sympathetically. “It was pretty stupid of those two to try and sell a fake Devil Fruit, but even worse that their daughter took the fall for it too.”

“Wait, did you say pomegranates? Those are delicious!” Luffy butted in. Like usual, he stopped listening the moment food was mentioned. “Which way is the farm, I wanna go eat some!”

“Luffy, we can’t just go steal their produce,” Sanji argued. “Just because they’re gone doesn’t mean their farm is free for the taking.”

“Actually, their daughter came back about a month ago,” the mayor said. “She’s been rebuilding the farm from scratch. If you go up there, she might let you buy some off her, if there’s anything left.”

“A nine year old is building a farm on her own?” Usopp muttered.

“Oh no, it’s been years since she originally left,” another villager added. “She’s an adult now.”

“We have to go up there and check on her,” Sanji interrupted. He clenched a fist passionately. “A beautiful young woman shouldn’t have to do manual labor. We should go help her.”

“Forget it,” Zoro snapped. “We’re not here to build a house, we’re here to supply up on our way to the grand line.”

Luffy didn’t even hear a word they said. His eyes were lit up with childish glee as he turned to Nami. “I want pomegranates!” he demanded. “Let’s go up there and see if we can get some!”

Nami sighed. “Fine, we’ll go up there and see if we can get some. We’ll shop on our way back.”

“Yeah!!”

\---

The trek up the mountain wasn’t too long, thankfully. The setting sun painted the scenery around them in gold and peach tones. “It’s really beautiful up here,” Usopp commented.

“I can definitely see the appeal of building a house up here,” Nami replied. “Stunning view, just secluded enough for privacy, but still close enough to the town and the docks for ease of access.”

“Hey look, it’s the farm!” Luffy called out, leaping forward. He’d barely taken a step before Zoro grabbed the back of his vest, jerking him backwards out of danger. At the same time, the clash of swords colliding rang out as Zoro parried the attack. There, in the space Luffy had just been occupying, stood a woman with a short sword extended in front of her, interlocked with Zoro’s. She looked stunned that her attack had been blocked, but she scowled as she recovered.

Zoro swore as a painful electric shock ran along his sword and up his arm, and they both leapt backwards, eyeing each other warily. “You all need to leave,” the woman said coldly, pointing her sword at them. “I’m not going to let you destroy my home again.”

\---

“Woah woah woah, we’re not here for a fight,” the redheaded woman started to say. Kitty disregarded her, eyeing the green-haired swordsman who’d blocked her attack as easily as breathing. He’d moved to pull the shorter guy out of the way almost faster than she had noticed, and something told her he wasn’t easy to fight.

“You’re GORGEOUS!” the tall blonde man interrupted her thoughts. “I would be honored to make you dinner sometime-”

“Shut up!” Kitty barked. She was outnumbered, and without any idea of what these people were capable of, she was at a disadvantage. Upon further thought, her impulsive attack had been poorly thought out, and she scowled in irritation at her own impulsiveness. “I don’t care what lie you damn pirates have. You’re not getting past me.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” the kid with the straw hat protested. “I just wanted some pomegranates-”

Kitty stomped her foot down on the ground, pumping as much of her lightning into the ground as she possibly could. The swordsman, the redhead, the blonde guy, and the long-nosed guy all staggered and flinched, but the straw hat kid looked like he didn’t even notice. While his crewmates were briefly incapacitated, Kitty took the opportunity to leap at him, sword extended.

“Woah, stop attacking us!” the kid called. He reached out to grab her, his hands reaching and reaching and – his arms  _ stretched _ out across the distance towards her. She flinched, leaving enough of an opening for his hands to slip past her attack and wrap around her. His arms wrapped around her like rope, pinning her arms to her side and her legs together. Kitty stumbled and hit the ground with a grunt, her sword clattering off to the side.

“Shit,” she growled, straining against her bonds. The kid with the straw hat gave her an exasperated look as he stepped closer. Kitty pumped even more electricity into his arms, and she knew it was reaching him – his hair stood on end under his hat. He didn’t as much as flinch, however, as he squatted next to her.

“What was all that for?” he said, leaning in close. “We didn’t even do anything!”

“You’re pirates, right?” Kitty spat. “You just want to steal and destroy whatever you can.”

“I can see where you’d think that, but that’s still stereotyping,” the redhead said with a frown. “Like we said, we’re not here for that. We just wanted to see if we could buy some fruit.”

The swordsman sheathed his sword, and upon closer inspection Kitty could see he carried three swords. It just seemed like overkill, for how strong he’d been during that one strike with just one sword. “Sure are aggressive, aren’t you?” he said with a faint smile.

“I protect what’s mine,” Kitty said warily. “You’ll have to forgive me for being cautious.”

“If I let you up will you not attack us anymore?” the straw hat kid asked.

“As long as you don’t do something stupid.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” the long-nosed man snorted.

Despite the clearly light-hearted barb, the kid unwound his arms from around her, falling back to his normal shape with a  _ snap _ . “Great!” he said, offering his hand to pull her up. After a moment, Kitty took it, and he pulled her to her feet with a surprising amount of strength for such a skinny little body.

“What  _ are _ you?” Kitty asked. “My electricity didn’t even make you flinch.”

The kid grinned. “I’m Luffy! I’m gonna be king of the pirates! I ate the Gum-Gum devil fruit, so I’m a rubber person! So that kind of thing won’t work on me.”


	2. Introduction and Agreement

This was all a lot of information to handle all at once, so Kitty set it aside to deal with later. After a brief introduction of the rest of the pirates, she finally stepped aside to allow them to continue on the path up to the farmhouse.

Luffy whistled when he saw the ruins of her home. “Holy crap, this place looks awful.”

Sanji smacked him on the back of the head. “Don’t be rude!”

“No, it’s fine,” Kitty said. “It’s been over ten years since this place was functional, I was surprised there was as much left of the place as there was. I only had to pull out a handful of saplings from the place, thankfully.”

Kitty kept an eye on the pirates as she hopped the fence around the orchard and started plucking pomegranates from the branches of the nearest tree. Once she’d filled the basket at her feet, she headed back over with it.

“Here you go,” she said, handing the basket over to Sanji. “You’re the cook, right? I figure you’ll make some use of these.”

“Thank you, Kitty,” he said with a smile. “We really appreciate it, Luffy especially.”

“That’s fine. That’ll be eight thousand berries,” Kitty said brusquely, holding her hand out.

“Now hold on, that’s way too much for one basket of fruit,” Nami protested. “It can’t be worth much more than half of that.”

Kitty sized up the redhead. Either she was a cheapskate or a shrewd bargainer, she wasn’t quite sure. “You’re not wrong. These pomegranates sell for two hundred and fifty berries each, and I put twenty in that basket. That would bring you up to five thousand berries. However, something tells me you’re not going to return the basket, since that way it’s easier to keep them away from your drooling captain there. It’s also just plain easier to carry all of them all the way down to your ship that way. On top of that,” Kitty added, “you have to pay for the land they’re grown on, the time spent growing and caring for the trees, and the labor of actually picking them. Plus I’m pretty damn broke, and need money so that I can buy materials to rebuild my house. Thus, incentive to raise the price. With all of this, eight thousand is a perfectly reasonable price.”

“I’ll give you six thousand.”

“I’ll give you less fruit.”

Zoro laughed. “Looks like you’ve met your match there, Nami.”

Nami scowled at him and Kitty in turn, but shelled out the cash. Kitty pocketed it with a smile. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Kitty! You should come see our ship!” Luffy said, slinging his arm up over her shoulder despite how much shorter he was than her. “It’s really cool, it’s called the Going Merry! The figurehead is a sheep and so is the steering bit-”

“Luffy, I’m sure she wants to stay here since she lives here and stuff,” Usopp said.

“Well, I could make something special for if you’d like to join us,” Sanji offered.

Kitty blinked in surprised. “What, really? You’d do that for someone you just met? Who attacked you on sight?” The more she talked with these people, the more she suspected she’d jumped the gun.

“Zoro would’ve attacked me the first time we met if he hadn’t been tied up,” Luffy said. “Usopp attacked us when we first met, too. Come on, please come see the ship and eat with us! It’ll be fun!”

Kitty gave a disbelieving laugh. “Well, if you insist, I’ll come along.” Sanji looked absolutely delighted, and leapt forward to offer his arm. Kitty ignored the offer. “But, I’m going to clean up first. I’ll make my way down to your ship afterwards.”

“Okay! It’s the one with the pirate flag,” Luffy said brightly.

“Something tells me I’ll know it when I see it,” Kitty said dryly.

“Don’t get lost on your way,” Zoro added as the pirates headed back down the mountain. Kitty heard the rest of his crewmates all simultaneously start shouting at him, but she shrugged it off.

\---

It was almost an hour later when she’d showered, dressed in clean clothes, and made her way down to the pier. Sure enough, the small ship with the sheepshead mast was right where she’d seen it dock earlier. There, across the main sail for everybody to see, was a giant painted grinning skull and crossbones, complete with the same straw hat that Luffy wore. Even if he hadn’t described their ship, she’d have recognized it as his.

“Kitty!” She looked up to see Nami leaning over the railing, waving. “Come on, we’re all waiting on you!”

“Yeah, I’m coming!”

The meal Sanji had prepared was more of a feast than she’d been expecting for such a teeny pirate group. It was also easily the best food she’d ever tasted. When she said such to Sanji, he beamed with happiness.

“So do you really have lightning powers?” Luffy asked past a mouthful of meat.

Kitty blinked. “Uh, yeah? I used it on you twice, did you seriously not feel it?”

“Nope. I told you, I’m made of rubber,” he said cheerfully. “Can you shoot lightning from your hands?”

The rest of the crew leaned forward, looking interested. A blush rose up on her cheeks at the attention, and she dropped her gaze to her plate of food. “No, I can’t. But I can zap you if you get too close, with my hands or through a limited distance through the ground. Of course, the material I send the electricity through changes how effective it is.”

“Like metal swords,” Zoro said pointedly.

“Yes, exactly. Uh, sorry about that by the way.”

“Oh man, that’s so cool!” Luffy exclaimed. “I wish I had lightning powers.”

“I bet the static shocks you can get are brutal,” Usopp said, gesturing with his fork. “For the rest of us it’s just inconvenient, for you it probably really sucks.”

“Well, not as much as you’d think. I’m mostly immune to electricity, but I’ll still get hurt if I get hit by lightning or something.” Despite her first impressions and initial fears, Kitty could feel herself relaxing around these people. Maybe they weren’t so bad after all. “It’s a fine line.”

“So did your parents seriously try to sell off a fake Devil Fruit? That’s a pretty dumb move,” Zoro said, leaning back in his chair.

“Have you never heard of tact?” Sanji reprimanded.

“No, it’s fine Sanji,” Kitty said hastily. “I can admit my parents made a really stupid mistake. I ended up being caught up in it too, for nearly a decade. I managed to learn from it as much as I could, and I got out. Now I’m making sure my parents have a home to come back to once I go save them.”

“Wait, your parents are still alive?” Nami said, surprised. “I thought they got killed for it.”

“Oh no, Leonardo wanted to punish them, not to let them off easy with death,” Kitty said casually. Usopp and Nami looked a little perturbed at how easily she said this. “He’s had them imprisoned. I’ve been working to get strong enough to break in and break them out.”

“Who is this Leonardo guy?” Luffy asked.

“He’s a mafia guy, a black market dealer who specializes in Devil Fruits,” Kitty explained. She speared a chunk of potato on her fork and ate it. “He jumped on the chance to buy one at such a low price, but was predictably angry when it was fake. He was even madder when I accidentally stole the Spark-Spark fruit from him.”

There was a moment of silence as they all stared at her. Nami was the first to break the silence. “How do you _accidentally_ steal a devil fruit?” she demanded.

Kitty blushed again. “I didn’t know it was a devil fruit at the time,” she said defensively. “I was hungry, I saw some berries, I ate them. They tasted awful too,” she added as an afterthought.

“That’s funny, that’s the same thing I did with the Gum-Gum fruit!” Luffy said brightly.

“Are you really planning on going after them by yourself?” Usopp asked. “No offense, but if you weren’t able to fend us five off, then how are you planning on making it in and out of a mafia base on your own?”

“Rich words from someone who didn’t do anything back there,” Zoro pointed out.

“Well, yeah,” Kitty answered, as if it were obvious. “I’m not going to rely on others for everything.”

“It doesn’t hurt to ask for help, you know,” Nami said quietly.

“What, are you all offering to help someone you just met, who attacked you on sight, to break into a prison, beat the hell out of everyone there, and to break out two prisoners when you have no idea how dangerous it might be?” Kitty snorted. “Good joke.”

“Yeah, why not?” Luffy said. His face was open and honest, far more so than almost everyone Kitty had ever met. One exception popped up into her mind, with freckles and an easy smile under a cowboy hat. She shook her head.

“You can’t be serious,” she said instead.

“It’s foolish to dive into something where you don’t know how deep the water is, but even more foolish to do so alone,” Sanji said wisely.

“I suppose it isn’t as exciting as some other heroic things I’ve done, but I suppose I could be convinced to help out,” Usopp said with a grin.

“Just accept the help, it’ll be easier in the long run,” Zoro said with an eye-roll towards his captain. “Trust me.”

Kitty stared at them all in turn. She tried to come up with some witty rebuttal, but all that came out of her mouth was a quiet, “Really?”

“Yeah.” Luffy grinned widely. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

For a moment, she just gave them all a slack-jawed stare. She composed herself and shook her head. “Clearly there’s no dissuading you,” she said with a faint smile. “Alright, sure. I guess I’ll let y’all come with me. But I’m in charge here.”

Zoro snorted. “Good luck with that.”


	3. Landfall

Once Kitty assured the villagers that the Straw Hat pirates were actually alright, and likely _weren’t_ going to wreak havoc, it was easy to get the Sunny supplied for the trip. It helped that they were actually willing to pay for the supplies they took, earning them quite a bit of goodwill. Kitty declined to help them load up the ship in preparation for the journey, instead packing up her own things. While she shoved her clothes in her bag, she came across a picture of her and Ace, taken together on one of their last days together before she’d left the crew. She smiled softly at their happy grins, faces tanned from the sun, before she tucked the picture into her bag.

When she made her way back down to the Sunny, the Straw Hats were already stocked up and ready to set out. Luffy gave her a wide grin the moment he saw her. “KITTY!” he shouted, waving at her and nearly falling over the railing in the process. “We’re ready! Let’s gooo!”

“The mayor gave us a map of the island we’re headed to,” Nami said once Kitty boarded. “It’s to the north-northeast of here, right?”

“Yeah, give or take a degree or two,” she answered. “You know, this is your last chance to back out of helping me here. Unless you ditch me somewhere,” she added as an afterthought. “I guess that’s still a possibility.”

“You don’t actually think we’d do that, do you?” Nami said, surprised.

“After my previous experiences, I never know what to expect. Better to be as prepared as possible.”

“Of course we’re not just gonna ditch you,” Zoro said. “We’re a bunch of assholes, sure, but we’re not evil.”

Kitty blushed a bit, feeling a little foolish for mentioning it at all now. “Well, alright then.”

\---

The trip up to Kuso Atama Island would take four days, so Nami took the liberty of showing Kitty the sleeping quarters once they got headed out to sea. “So you could pick a hammock, and I don’t think it would matter which one you chose, but if you don’t wanna sleep in here with the boys then you can sleep in the other actual bedroom with me,” she explained.

Kitty laughed. “I’m pretty used to little privacy, I’ll probably just sleep wherever I happen to be when I’m tired.”

“Oh man, you’ll get along with Zoro just fine then,” Nami said dryly.

Whatever taste of the Straw Hats’ personalities she’d gotten during their first encounter, it was nothing compared to the full experience of sharing this small ship with them over the course of nearly a week. Luffy was even more out-there than she’d ever expected, always excited over something. He smiled and laughed even more readily than Ace. Despite her first impression of him, and, you know, _attacking_ him, something about him was so innately likeable that by time the second day rolled around, she regretted making assumptions and attacking.

The other four were interesting characters in their own rights, and before she knew it Kitty found herself bonding with them as easily as if she’d known them for years. She bonded with Usopp over their shared love of drawing, something she wouldn’t have expected from the perpetually nervous sniper. Zoro was a little pricklier, but something told her it was just that he wasn’t very open with his emotions rather than him being truly unfriendly. He did warm up a bit after she asked him about his three swords, and they ended up falling into a long discussion about swordplay. It was clear he was much more skilled than she was, but it was still neat. Nami, despite their initial argument over how much that basket of pomegranates cost, warmed up to her quickly, and before they knew it the two women were gossiping as if they’d been friends their whole life. Sanji, of course, doted on Kitty just as much as he did Nami, though it left Kitty baffled at the attention.

The day before they were due to make landfall at Kuso Atama, Kitty had secluded herself up in the tiny crow’s nest, staring out over the bow of the ship. The ocean still stretched out uninterrupted before them, but she knew soon the island would peek out over the horizon.

She was finally going to see her parents again. They would be _free_ , both her parents and her, once Leonardo was defeated. She wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

The creak of the ropes pulled her from her thoughts, and she looked up to see Nami’s face poke up over the side of the crow’s nest. “Hey,” she said, “want some company?”

“Yeah, sure.” Kitty moved over to give the redhead some room, and the two women settled in together. They were quiet for a long time, just enjoying the cool sea breeze and the warm sun on their skin.

When Nami finally spoke, her voice was soft and thoughtful. “You know, the mayor of your village told us about everything that happened with your parents,” she said. “He said you got conscripted into a pirate crew when you tried to stop your parents from being taken away. And now here we are about to get them back after so long being imprisoned. Are you…okay?”

Kitty blinked at her. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little nervous. This has been a long time coming.” She pulled her knees up to her chest. “Leonardo gave me the chance to work to buy their freedom, but of course he took it back once I ‘stole’ the Spark-Spark fruit. After that I had to resign myself to getting them back by force, but it’s not so easy alone. And I didn’t want to risk my friends’ lives-”

She cut off when Nami threw herself at her, pulling her into a hug. Her air tickled Kitty’s cheek as she tightened her embrace.

“W-what’s this for?” Kitty sputtered.

“These are good people,” Nami said quietly. “They’re idiots who act before they think and get us into even more trouble than they get us out of, but there’s nobody else I’d want to have my back in a fight. I want you to know that you can rely on them through hell and back.”

She wasn’t entirely sure why, but Kitty could feel a lump of emotion swelling up in her throat, so she couldn’t do anything but nod. Nami’s eyes were damp when she pulled away.

“Come on, I bet lunch is about ready,” Nami said at length. “You can sit by me if you want.”

“I’ll do that.”

\---

The island of Kuso Atama appeared over the horizon early the next morning, right on schedule. Kitty felt her stomach twist into knots at the sight. Nami gave her shoulder a subtle, reassuring squeeze as the ship approached the dock.

Kitty had gone over a plan with the pirates at dinner yesterday, and just like they’d decided, Nami gave Kitty free rein of the chest of clothes. Thus, Kitty disguised herself with some of the redhead’s clothes, and before too long they pulled up to the docks.

“Alright!” Luffy hollered the moment his feet touched solid land. “Let’s do this!”

“We’ve got to be careful,” Usopp scolded his captain. “You’ve got a bounty on your head, and it’s possible they’re gonna be on the lookout for Kitty. Don’t ruin our plan just because you’re excited!”

“Actually, I’ve been really careful about giving Leonardo the impression I’m too scared to challenge him,” Kitty said quietly. “If I’ve done this right, he shouldn’t be expecting me at all.”

“See? It’ll be fine, let’s go!” Luffy charged off, only to be jerked to a stop by Zoro grabbing the back of his shirt.

“We don’t know where we’re supposed to go,” Zoro snapped. “You’re gonna get lost and raise some hell and then the element of surprise will be ruined. Just like every single other time ever.”

“You’re one to talk about getting lost, marimo,” Sanji muttered, puffing on his cigarette.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY, DARTBOARD BROW?”

“Anyway, we need to stick to the plan,” Kitty interrupted. “I don’t know exactly where Leonardo’s stronghold is, but someone in this city should. We should split up, I think we can more easily find out the location that way.”

“That sounds fine,” Nami said. “Luffy and Sanji will be a pair, Zoro and Usopp will be a pair, and Kitty and I will be a pair. “We’ll meet up in this square again in, say, two hours?”

“Sounds fine to me,” Sanji chimed in.

“Alright. Usopp and Sanji, you’re both responsible for making sure Luffy and Zoro don’t get lost or do something stupid,” Nami added, pointing at the latter two. Zoro’s nose wrinkled in annoyance, but Luffy just laughed.

“Alright! Let’s GO!” Luffy said loudly. With that, he bolted off, closely followed by Sanji. The other four of them took the opportunity to split off as well. Nami dragged Kitty off towards the shop area, chattering excitedly, though Kitty’s stomach twisted into knots with every step they took.


	4. Reconnaissance Shopping

“Look, Sanji, FOOD,” Luffy demanded excitedly. He pointed at the rows of food merchants, with fruits and cheeses on display, or different cuts of meat sizzling on grills. Sanji had to admit, the various scents on the air were pretty delicious, and he stepped close to one stall to carefully examine the seasonings for sale.

“Remember, we’re not here for fun,” he reminded his numbskull captain. “ _Do not_ just start eating whatever you want, we don’t have that much money.”

“But it smells good!” Luffy whined. Sanji bonked him none-too-lightly on the top of his head.

“Restrain yourself, we’re here to help Kitty, not to satisfy your appetite,” he scolded. “You want to help her save her parents, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” Luffy said, looking a little hurt at the insinuation. “I promised her I would.”

“Then you gotta stick to the plan. We can’t do our part if you get us in trouble for eating food we can’t afford.”

“Yeah, okay…”

\---

“You just wait and see, I’m going to defeat all of those horrible mafia guys by myself,” Usopp bragged with false bravado. “They won’t even see it coming!”

“Or you’ll piss yourself from terror,” Zoro muttered. He peered inside a shop, then continued on. They were supposed to be subtly trying to find information, but subtle had never been his forte. Might as well save his strength for the fight that would inevitably break out once they _did_ find the place.

“I WOULDN’T-”

“Don’t you think you ought to keep quiet?” Zoro interrupted. “You’re gonna alert people about what we’re doing here. Maybe they’ll send assassins after you.”

Usopp’s normally dark face paled in terror. “Ass-ssass-ssins?” he stammered. “They wouldn’t really do that…would they?”

Zoro gave him a menacing grin. “Oh sure, tons of them. You’d never hear them coming. One minute you’re minding your own business, and the next…you’re dead.”

The sniper was now shaking like a leaf, but he held up a fist anyway. “I’d like to see them try!” he squawked. “I’ll beat them back with everything I’ve got!”

“Sure you will.”

\---

Nami, predictably, pulled Kitty into the nearest expensive clothing store and started pulling dozens of things from the racks. She piled Kitty’s arms high with clothes before shoving her into a changing booth. “Come on, try something on and show me!”

“Should we really be wasting time like this?” Kitty wondered aloud as she reluctantly changed into one of the new outfits. “I know we’ve got two hours before we head back, but still…”

“Like you just said, we have plenty of time,” Nami said confidently. “You worry too much.”

“Thanks, it’s the anxiety.”

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing here. I don’t know about those other knuckleheads, but we’ll find what we need. I promise.”

“If you say so.” Kitty examined her reflection in the mirror critically before opening the changing room door and stepping out. Nami gasped with delight and clapped her hands in front of her.

“Oh, I knew this one would look great on you! Look how that light blue compliments your skin tone. And these little embroidered flowers are just _adorable_.”

“Nami, this dress costs a LOT of money.”

“Hush, you. I know what I’m doing.” Nami grabbed another outfit and shoved it at her. “Go on, try this one on next, with this cardigan.”

“Nami-”

“Kitty, you need to _relax_ ,” Nami interrupted. “We’ll make it work. You just need to trust us.”

“I do trust you,” Kitty said, smiling wryly. “I was just gonna say that I thought this cardigan would look better on you than me.”

“Oh.” Nami blushed a bit. “Well, I don’t think it matters who it looks best on,” she said, sounding a little flustered. “We’re just trying to set up something here. All part of the plan. BUT you have to keep trying things on, to make it look realistic. Now go on, keep trying things on!”

Kitty laughed aloud. “Yes, ma’am.”

Forty five minutes later, Kitty and Nami were back in their regular clothes and dumping every item they’d tried on onto the counter. “I want to buy these!” Nami declared.

“Certainly! Let me just add up your total-”

“I want fifty percent off.”

The clerk paused, sending the redhead a wary but amused look. “Joking, right?”

Nami shook her head, smiling cheerfully. “Nope.”

The clerk laughed a bit. “Ma’am, I can’t give you fifty percent off on these,” he said, gesturing at the massive pile of clothes. “We don’t have any sales going on right now, let alone half off sales.”

“I don’t care. I want half off.”

By now, the poor clerk was almost visibly sweating. Kitty couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy – normally she’d never put someone under such pressure, but this was extenuating circumstances. Nami said she had a plan, and Kitty trusted her. So, this guy would just have to deal with the stress of the natural phenomenon that was Nami’s negotiation.

“Ma’am. Please.” The clerk’s voice cracked. “I can’t do that. If you want all these clothes, you have to pay the full price.”

Nami sighed dramatically and leaned forward onto the counter. “Well there’s got to be _something_ you can do for me here,” she said with a pout. Kitty kept her same slightly disinterested slouch, but kept a close eye on the conversation. She knew Nami well enough by now to know when she was up to something. “We’re supposed to have something nice to wear for our meeting with Leonardo tonight. I’m already worried about showing up late, now we’re going to show up late _and_ dressed horribly.”

Kitty fought the urge to squint at her friend. Meeting? That’s her plan? “If the guy can’t help us, then he can’t help us,” she said. _Nami, I don’t know where you’re taking this._

“But we can’t show up looking like this,” Nami argued. “We’ve already lost the address Leonardo gave us, so we’ve got to figure out where he is again, but now we’ll show up in _rags_!”

“Hey, my clothes aren’t that bad!” Kitty protested, a little hurt.

“It’s too much!” Nami cried.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” the clerk said hesitantly. Kitty spotted a gleam of satisfaction in Nami’s eye before she turned back to the clerk, her face set in an eerily accurate dismayed expression.

“What is it?” Nami sniffled.

“I can’t give you a discount on all of these things, but I can help you find something appropriate to wear to a meeting with Mr. Leonardo,” he offered. “And I can write down his address for you. Would that help you feel better about all this?”

Nami beamed. Kitty was impressed, but kept her expression in check as the clerk wrote the address down for them. When he turned to pull out some clothes from the pile that he thought would suit them best, Nami brightly said that they were too expensive. She grabbed Kitty’s hand and dragged her from the store, leaving the stunned and frustrated clerk behind.

“See, I told you to trust me,” Nami said once they were a safe distance away. She waved the scrap of paper in Kitty’s face before tucking it into her pocket. “Now we just need to reunite with the others, and make our move.”

Kitty frowned. “Yeah.”

“What’s with the tone? This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah, but that’s not it,” Kitty said slowly.

“What is it, then?” Nami asked.

“Do you really think my clothes are rags?”

“Oh my god, _that’s_ what you’re worried about? Seriously?”


End file.
